Tenet statement outlines how referrals went astray
As part of its settlement of a federal case involving allegations of kickbacks for physician referrals, Tenet Healthcare Corp. agreed to this statement explaining how the situation arose:
"The Alvarado case has been a sobering event for Tenet, and it has led to significant reforms and strengthening of compliance standards for physician relocation agreements at all Tenet hospitals, and at hospitals across the country.
"Between 1992 and 2002, the hospital and its former chief executive officer, Barry Weinbaum, recruited approximately 100 physicians to East San Diego County. The hospital's relocation program provided money to these physicians to assist them in starting new practices in the area. Several of the relocated doctors joined 'host practices' of established physicians who were already affiliated with Alvarado and who referred patients to Alvarado.
"We were distressed to learn that certain host physicians had obtained excessive payments by representing that they needed money to make tenant improvements to accommodate new physicians when, in fact, they never made improvements. We regret that the hospital did not take adequate steps to ensure that money provided to relocated doctors, including money earmarked for tenant improvements and office overhead, was in fact used for those purposes and in all instances was justified.
"We were also distressed to learn as a result of the government's investigation that Mina Nazaryan, a former Alvarado hospital employee, received payments from certain host doctors who received financial assistance from the hospital.
"We have always had a disagreement with the government over whether anyone at Alvarado knowingly set out to violate the law in connection with these physician recruitments, but we have never disputed that there are aspects of how the recruitment program operated that are troubling."
As part of its settlement of a federal case involving allegations of kickbacks for physician referrals, Tenet Healthcare Corp. agreed to a statement explaining how the situation arose.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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